Empire of Steel
by Darth Brando
Summary: Part 3 of Doctor Who: The Hunger Games series. Sequel to The Angels Ascendant. Patients at Satellite 7, the most advanced hospital in the Universe, are disappearing. With Katniss fully healed, the trio sets out to find out who, or what is responsible. . .
1. Prolouge

**Satellite Seven – 2,465,983 A.D.**

* * *

"Patient 3-23-2012 has, unfortunately, passed away," says the blue man into a recorder. "The body has been moved to morgue Alpha Twelve."

The blue man sighs, and rubs his eyes. "Life signs ceased at oh-eighteen hundred hours," he says. "We attempted to revive the patient, but our attempts failed. Autopsy will start at oh nineteen-hundred and – "

The blue man is interrupted by the heart monitor beeping. The line spikes, but then the monitor falls silent and the line flattens again. The blue man frowns and presses a button on the monitor. The display shows the spike again and he leans in closer to examine it.

A frown crosses his face. "The patient showed a heartbeat for a second," he says. "It also shows that all life signs were restored to normal for less than one second. It's peculiar. I'm going to consult the Head Doctor."

The blue man shuts off the recorder and jogs out of the morgue. He winds his way through the almost empty halls until he reaches the Head Doctor's office. He licks his lips nervously before stepping inside.

On the other side of a large desk sits an elderly human. He removes his spectacles as the blue man steps in.

"Sir," says the blue man. "I'm sorry to bother you, but the monitor just showed that a dead patient had life signs for a second."

The Head Doctor stands. "What?" He asks incredulously.

"Yes sir," says the blue man. "And with regulations being what they are –"

"Of course," interrupts the Head Doctor. "Those bloody lawyers would be over us in a second if they heard about it. Stay here until I can confirm it myself. Alpha Twelve correct?"

The blue man nods. The Head Doctor leaves his office and walks through the doors of morgue Alpha Twelve. He frowns as he looks around the empty room.

"Computer," the Head Doctor says. The computer chirps to indicate it is ready. "Locate patient 3-23-2012," the Head Doctor orders.

There is silence for a moment before the computer answers. "Patient 3-23-2012 does not exist."

"Impossible," says the Head Doctor. "I was there when she died. Pull up my records on her."

There is silence again. "No records exist," the computer answers.

"Then where was I at oh-eighteen hundred?" the Head Doctor demands.

"Unknown," says the computer. "No records exist."

"How many patients have died today?"

"No patients have died today,"

"There were at least thirty!" the Head Doctor protests.

"Incorrect," says the computer. "No patients have died for the last month."

"Impossible!I did at least forty autopsies in the last week alone!"

"Incorrect," says the computer. "You retired last month."

"What?" asks the Head Doctor baffled.

There is a hissing sound and a white gas fills the room.

"You retired last month," the computer insists.

The Head Doctor screams and pounds on the doors, but they will not open. Then he is choking, gasping for air. Within seconds, he collapses to the floor and ceases moving.


	2. Not Quite Dead Yet

I am dead.

I know I am dead because I can no longer feel the pain, the burning of my body as if falls into the heart of a star. There is nothing but silence and darkness, and I hope this doesn't last forever. But the darkness and silence is actually soothing, and with nothing else to do, I let myself drift.

Time ceases to have any meaning as I float in the perpetual darkness. I am not asleep, but I'm not awake either. Instead, I am trapped in an in-between. I don't know if I float for seconds or millennia before the silence is shattered by a whirring sound.

Slowly, a line of light penetrates the darkness. The light widens in front of me. This must be the light at the end of the tunnel I have heard about. There is a gentle jolt, and I feel myself being raised up.

In the light I can see two figures, though I cannot make out any details. This must be Prim and my father. I try to think of what to say to them, but I can think of nothing.

I finally float fully into the light. I turn my head to the taller of the figures, obviously my father. I open my mouth to speak.

But only a confused squawk comes out.

"See? I told you," says the Doctor to Peeta. "It'll take a lot more than falling into the heart of a star to kill that one."

Peeta gently takes one of my hands in his while I open and close my mouth. Still, nothing comes out. Slowly, I force myself to sit up, looking between Peeta and the Doctor.

"I'm not dead," I finally say. As if my sitting up and speaking wasn't an obvious clue.

"You were," says Peeta, reaching up with his free hand to caress my face. "The Doctor killed you."

A look of indignation crosses the Doctor's face. "I didn't kill her," he insists. "I just put her in a temporal lock until we could get here."

"You said she wasn't alive," Peeta says.

"Yes, but more importantly, she wasn't dead!" The Doctor says waving his arms around.

"You said her heart stopped," Peeta says. "And that was before you put her in temporal lock."

"Okay, so I may have stopped your heart for a little bit," says the Doctor apologetically. "But I did get it started again!"

Before Peeta can say anything else, I hold up my hands, noting with surprise that they bear no evidence of burns. Both Peeta and the Doctor fall silent, waiting for me to speak. "What happened?" I ask slowly. "The last thing I remember was falling into the star."

"We caught you," says Peeta. "When you fell through, the Doctor dragged me back to the TARDIS since I refused to leave. We landed right before you fell through the bridge. We managed to get you here."

"Satellite Seven," announces the Doctor. "The most advanced hospital in the Universe. They fixed you up as good as new. Well, not actually since you'll never be new again, but that's the expression. At any rate, now that you're all better we can keep going. Come on!"

Without waiting for us to answer, he bounds out the door. Peeta helps me out of the strange bed I was laying on. Surprisingly, I feel as strong as ever; possibly even a little more so. And whatever I'm wearing is comfortable too.

Unlike the thin paper gowns I've worn in most hospitals, here I wear a soft cotton-like material that resembles actual clothes. It fits perfectly too. The clothes also have a pleasant scent to them, like the meadow outside 12 after a rainstorm. Even the fuzzy boots I'm wearing are warm, comfortable, and smell somewhat pleasant.

As Peeta and I walk out the door, I stop. "What is that?" I ask as a thing that looks like a human, but with a plethora of tentacles protruding from its face, walks by.

"Ood!" says the Doctor. "Love an Ood. Of course, humans enslaved them for awhile. I managed to end that, though I'm not sure if I've done that already."

I take the odd comment in stride. It makes sense, in a way. But I'm not sure if I like how comfortable I'm becoming with strange comments like that, especially since I've only been travelling with the Doctor for three or four days. I start to wonder what other bizarre things will become normal for me as I follow the Doctor into one of the largest rooms I've ever seen.

The room is a wide open area with hundreds of chairs of various sizes and designs. Occupying them are humans, and monsters that I could never have dreamed of. I instinctively reach for my bow, only to come up empty. I look for a place to hide to escape the danger, but then I stop myself.

Rather than the monsters killing humans, they all seem to be ignoring each other. I even see what looks like a cactus with a face talking to a human. It's so unreal that I wonder if this is all a morphling induced hallucination.

"I didn't know that life was so diverse," Peeta finally says. "How many living things are out there?"

"Billions of billions of billions of trillions," the Doctor answers. "But there are only about twenty million sentient species."

"Only?" Peeta asks in disbelief, turning to the Doctor.

"They make up one trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a billionth of a percent," says the Doctor. "And that's a generous estimate assuming that you eliminate single celled organisms."

"With as many species as you say there are, there are a lot of humans out there," Peeta says, turning back to the room.

"Of course there are," answers the Doctor, "You lot are like rabbits, spreading across the Universe. At this point you have colonies on almost every habitable planet, moon and asteroid. There are billions of trillions of you, spread out across the entirety of the Universe."

"How far in the future is this?" I ask, still trying to take it all in.

"About two million years after your time, give or take a couple centuries."

I let that sink in. Two million years. The number is so large I can't wrap my head around it. I start to get a headache, and the more I think about it, the worse the headache gets. Finally, I give up, accepting that I will never be able to comprehend it.

As the Doctor leads us around the edge of the room, I can't stop looking around. There's equipment with functions I can't even guess at, and so many various life forms that everywhere I look, I see something new. The Doctor doesn't say anything, just lets us take it all in until Peeta and I catch up with him.

If ever there was a time to demand answers, now is it. I'm fairly sure I can guilt trip the Doctor into answering since he did almost kill me. I consider what I want to ask before speaking.

"We want answers," I say. Next to me, Peeta nods.

The Doctor looks between us. "Let's get back to the TARDIS and –"

"No," I interrupt, sitting on a bench against the wall and crossing my arms. "I want answers now."

The Doctor looks flustered, but finally sits next to me as Peeta sits on my other side.

"Ask away," the Doctor says. "But you might not like the answers."

"Why are you a face changer? What's a Time Lord, and why are you the last?" I ask.

"Face-changer isn't exactly accurate," the Doctor says. "Time Lords have this trick, a way of cheating death. We can regenerate before dying, but that ability has a cost. When we regenerate, the person we are dies. When it's over, a new person walks away with all the memories."

"Have you regenerated then? What's it like?" Peeta asks.

"Do you want answers or are you asking questions for fun?" asks the Doctor, crossing his legs at the knees and placing both hands on his knee on top.

"Sorry," says Peeta as he sits back in the bench.

"Curiosity is never something to apologize for," says the Doctor. "But yes, I have. Ten times so far. It's different every time. Sometimes it's the most excruciating thing in the Universe. Other times it's like going to sleep and waking up as a stranger."

"How many times can you regenerate?" Peeta asks.

"Twelve. As for what a Time Lord is -" the Doctor shrugs. "That's me. The others are gone. Some bad things happened and they died. All of them. Except for me."

"That doesn't answer the question," I point out. Now that the Doctor is in an answering mood, I want to get as much information as possible. I don't know when, or if, I'll ever get this chance again.

The Doctor adjusts his bowtie, clearly uncomfortable. "There was a war," he finally says. "And we lost. But that was several hundred years ago."

"You can't be that old," Peeta says incredulously.

The Doctor smiles slightly. "I'm older than I look," he says.

"You look twenty five at most," I say.

"I'm eleven hundred and one," the Doctor answers. "Give or take a couple months, or years. Possibly even a century or two. I stopped keeping track a long time ago."

"You can't be that old! People don't live that long!" I protest. The oldest person I ever knew was sixty eight when she died, and the Doctor's age is older than Panem which lasted longer than anyone or anything I've ever known.

"I told you, I'm not human," the Doctor says. "I'm a Time Lord. We age differently than you."

"Then why do you look human? And how do we speak the same language?" I demand. I can't think of any reason an Alien would learn the language of Panem.

"Humans look Time Lord, we came first," says the Doctor slightly indignantly. "And I speak everything. So do you, since traveling on the TARDIS gives you a psychic link to the translation matrix. Reading will be a bit harder though."

Our conversation is interrupted by shouting. I quickly locate the source. A man is screaming at a white-coated man with blue skin.

"It's your fault!" he screams. "How could you lose my wife's body?"

The blue man stutters an apology that I can't make out very well. "This looks promising," says the Doctor as he bounds over to put himself in the middle of it.

"Sorry," says the Doctor when he reaches the screaming man. "I couldn't help but overhear. What do you mean your wife's body is missing?"

The woman points at the blue man. "This idiot not only killed my wife through negligence, but also lost her body! I want to talk to whoever is in charge! I'm going to sue you all!" he screams.

"Yes, okay, but where did the body go?" the Doctor asks.

The blue man licks his lips. He looks nervous. At least I think he looks nervous. It's hard to tell since he isn't human. "I don't know," he says. "Last I saw it, it was in the morgue." He licks his lips again. "But the strangest part is that the hospital records say she never existed. But that's not all. The computer says that none of the patients that have died in the last month existed."

"Well that's fantastic," says the Doctor clapping his hands together and grinning.

I don't see what's so great about the situation. If it were up to me, we would be back on the TARDIS and out of here in a heartbeat. I'm not superstitious, but I feel a sense of danger. There's more to it than the blue man is letting on. Or maybe he doesn't know, is just an unwitting piece in someone else's game.

Either way I want to get out of here. But the Doctor is the only one who can fly the TARDIS and he has other plans.

"A hospital with patients that disappear and never existed," says the Doctor excitedly. "It's like Christmas came early. Come on then. Take us to the morgue."


	3. Looking for Clues

I shiver and wrap my father's leather jacket around myself trying to hold my heat in. The morgue is freezing and I'm grateful we were able to return to the TARDIS so I could change into something warmer. But even with the jacket, the cold seeps through and I swear I can feel my blood turning into ice.

Grumbling about the cold, I blow on my hands to keep them warm. Not that it does much good, because as soon as I stop, they get cold again. Peeta gently takes my hands in his.

"You're freezing," he says as he gently massages the heat back into my hands. But with as cold as his hands are, it feels more like blocks of ice rubbing together.

"I noticed," I grumble. I'm grateful for him, but I still don't like the cold. It reminds me of winter and death and hard times. I really wish the Doctor would do whatever he's doing faster. I want to go back upstairs where it's warmer.

At the center of the room, the Doctor makes sweeps with his sonic screwdriver as he spins around slowly. "It doesn't make sense," he says when he finally holds up the crystal tip to his face. "There's residual something, but I can't tell what it is."

The Doctor strokes his chin. "There is a trace of a teleport, but whatever the residual stuff is, it's causing too much interference to locate the source," he says. "And without knowing what the stuff is, I can't compensate for it."

"I don't know of anything that would be in the air," says the blue man rubbing his hands together. I don't know how he became a doctor. On our way down here, every sound made him jump and make a terrified squeak that makes me think of a mouse.

"Where was the body?" The Doctor asks.

The blue man licks his lips nervously. "The body was here," he says, pointing to a large slab at the center of the room. "And when I try to pull up the records, it claims she doesn't exist."

The Doctor walks over to the computer console that sits next to the slab. "How many patients have died in the last month?" he asks.

"No patients have died in the last month," a mechanical voice answers.

"Something's wrong," says the Doctor. I can hear the suspicion in his voice. "A hospital this size will inevitably lose patients. With as many that come through here, I would guess at least fifty or so would die a week."

"You are mistaken," says the mechanical voice. "No patients have died in the last month."

"Tell me the truth," the Doctor says as he points his screwdriver at the computer. "What's the plan?" He activates the screwdriver and the mechanical voice squawks gibberish for a moment before it speaks again.

"Patients that are about to die are given a drug that fools the scanners into registering patients as dead," the mechanical voice says. "Their records are erased so that no one will notice that they were not taken to the cremation center. The bodies are instead teleported off-station where they are upgraded."

"Upgraded to what?" Peeta asks.

"Unknown," says the mechanical voice.

"But why?" asks the Doctor. "Someone is bound to notice that bodies have gone missing and would say something."

"By law, all bodies must be cremated," says the mechanical voice. "Family members are given the ashes. In the instance of patients teleported off-station, cloned cells are cremated and given to family members."

"What's the point?" I ask. This 'Upgrading' thing sounds like something the Capitol would have done before the revolution.

"And who's responsible?" Peeta adds.

"Unknown," says the mechanical voice. "The Beloved Ken Cuing is responsible for authorizing the project."

"And where is The Beloved Ken Cuing?" the Doctor asks menacingly. "We have a couple questions to ask him."

"I can take you," says the blue man. "He's giving a speech in the Great Hall."

"Oh good, I love a speech," says the Doctor. "Lead the way."


	4. The Beloved Ken Cuing

"I present to you, The Beloved Ken Cuing!" says the announcer.

The crowd around us breaks into applause as a short raven-haired man in a dark blue tuxedo steps up to the podium. He waves congenially at the assembled crowd. The applause continues for several minutes before Cuing holds up his hands.

The applause slowly dies away as Cuing starts speaking. "When I became the Director of Satellite Seven, I made a promise," he says. There's something hypnotic about his voice that makes me want to listen to him. Unwillingly, I find myself leaning forward in my seat and hanging onto his every word.

"I made a promise that I would bring down patient mortality rates, and would work with scientists to create new cures to combat some of our deadliest diseases," he says. The crowd is silent and unmoving to the point I wonder if they are statues. "And in the last month, I fulfilled my promise! Satellite Seven has had no patient mortalities in the last month and we've found a cure for every disease!"

The crowd cheers wildly and Cuing beams as the crowd gets to its feet, roaring approval.

"Don't let their joy fool you," says the Doctor next to me. "These people own the hospital. What they really heard was that they're going to get a lot more money very soon."

Looking around the room, I see the truth in what the Doctor says. As they look at Cuing, there is no joy in their eyes. Instead, I see an insatiable hunger that he has just told them he could feed forever. I feel like I'm back in the Capitol before the Games when the audience looked at us the same way. Just pieces to be used for their profit and entertainment.

The applause finally dies, and the audience leans forward, waiting for Cuing to continue. He takes a drink of water from the cup next to him then adjusts his tie. "Now," he says. "I'm not the only one to thank for this recent breakthrough. I have a few friends that I would like to have come out for recognition for their part in this. Come on out, don't be shy!"

I hear harsh mechanical footsteps, and the doors on either side of the stage slide open. Large humans made out of metal step out from doorways. The six of them walk across the stage and form a line behind Cuing.

"Oh," says the Doctor. "That explains everything."

"What are they?" Peeta asks. His question is reflected by the members of the audience.

"These are the Cybermen!" yells Cuing. "They are our future! They cannot die. They cannot get sick. And they cannot age!"

The crowd shares confused glances. If they own the hospital, hearing that people won't get sick anymore isn't good for their profits. I'm curious now to see how this turns out.

"And I assure you that your business interests will not be interrupted," says Cuing. "In fact, the creation of these Cybermen will lead to more profit. Each one is fitted with a device to make them break down at random intervals. And only the hospital will be able to repair them. For a cost of course."

The crowd erupts into applause. One by one, they stand to give Cuing a standing ovation. One elderly woman, with a diamond the size of my big toe, is even weeping with joy. I feel sick. Though we're two million years in the future, people are no different. Silently I wonder what the point of the rebellion was if people will never change.

"What are they?" Peeta asks.

"The Cybermen were humans," the Doctor answers. "But they were taken, and stripped of all emotion and feeling. They don't have bodies anymore; they're just metal shells with a brain inside. They have no individuality, no imagination, and no compassion."

I try to imagine a life without any emotion or imagination. I decide immediately that I don't like it and that I would rather die than become a Cyberman.

"So they're faking patient deaths to add to their ranks?" Peeta asks.

"Exactly," says the Doctor. "But I want to know how they got into Satellite Seven. So let's go get some answers."

While the crowd is still cheering, the Doctor bounds to his feet and storms to the stage. Again, he reminds me of a winter storm, threatening to bury everything in its path. The other audience members seem to be of a like mind because they clear out of his way as soon as they see him.

The Doctor bounds up the stage with Peeta and me in tow. The Doctor pulls out the blank piece of paper again and flashes it in front of Cuing's face. "I'm special police," he says. "My code name is the Doctor. This is Sagittaria and Baguette," he points at me and Peeta respectively. "I have some questions that you need to answer."

"Of course," says Cuing. He turns to the microphone. "Excuse me for a moment, something has come up. Please help yourself to the buffet at the back of the room."

He switches the microphone off and we follow him off the stage and into a corridor. After winding through it for several minutes, Cuing opens a door and the three of us step in after him.

"The Cybermen told me you would come Doctor," says Cuing when the door is shut.

"Why are the Cybermen here?" the Doctor demands.

Cuing walks around the giant desk at the center of the room. He sits down in the high-backed chair then steeples his fingers. "To save lives," he says. "When I took my position as Director of Satellite Seven, we lost hundreds of patients a month. Then the Cybermen came. They offered us technology, a chance to save everyone. With their help, we've conquered death."

"Some fates are worse than death," says the Doctor. "Becoming a Cybermen is one of them."

Cuing pounds his fist on the desk. "But we've conquered death Doctor. Surely saving hundreds of thousands of those who would have died is worth the price."

The Doctor leans over the desk and Cuing flinches. "You cannot trust them," the Doctor says. "I've fought them across time and space, and I can tell you that if you go through with this that for every person you save, hundreds will die. They won't be content with the dying of this hospital. Soon, they'll attempt to take over every planet, satellite, and base in this galaxy. They'll convert everyone."

Cuing grins. "Of course Satellite Seven isn't enough," he says. "There are Cyber conversion chambers near every hospital in the galaxy by now. Each is upgrading hundreds if not thousands of patients a month. And you were right about them spreading."

Cuing waves his hand to the window at the back of his office. "Out there, there are ten thousand Cyberships, waiting over every colony and every planet in this galaxy. When I give the signal, they will descend and convert billions of humans. We stand at the start of a new empire Doctor.

Cuing spreads out his arms as if to encompass the entire galaxy. "An empire where there is no disease, no aging, and no death. Then they will spread across the Universe until all of humanity is given this gift. Think of it Doctor! You could join them. You could have your own Empire!"

The Doctor looms over Cuing. "What did they offer you?" the Doctor asks.

"In return for letting them use Satellite Seven as their control center, and for giving them patients to convert, they give us technology to save lives," says Cuing. After seeing the look of cold fury on the Doctor's face, he quickly adds: "And they offered to make me the leader of their empire."

"Back to the TARDIS," the Doctor says to us.

"There's nothing you can do Doctor," Cuing says. "You can't possibly stop all of them. You have no weapons. And you have no plan."

"And that should terrify you," the Doctor growls as he ushers us out the door.

"Not really," says Cuing. "I already took the liberty of contacting security. They should be here in oh –" He is interrupted by six shimmering pillars of light appearing around his office. They form into Cybermen. All of them take a step towards us, reaching out their arms as if to embrace us.

"Say what you will about them, Cybermen are efficient," says Cuing. "Now, if you'll excuse me Doctor, I have a speech to finish." He bows mockingly before stepping out the door.

"Nobody panic," says the Doctor as he turns in a circle.

"Who's panicking?" I ask.

"You have a plan, right?"adds Peeta.

"Well, sort of," says the Doctor. "It's more of a thing."

"You don't have a plan," says Peeta.

"Okay!" says the Doctor. "I don't have a plan! But you can't rush genius!"

I look around the room, trying to find a way out. But other than the door, which is blocked by a Cyberman, there's nothing. As I look around the room again, my eyes fall on the desk. It's large, but doesn't look heavy. It could be perfect for what I have in mind.

"Peeta!" I call out. I nod my head towards the desk and he immediately picks up on my idea. He grabs one end of the desk and I grab the other. Like I thought, it isn't as heavy as it looks, but it isn't light. I just hope it's heavy enough for what I planned.

We heft the desk higher before dumping it on the Cyberman blocking the door. There's a loud bang as the desk and Cyberman crash to the floor. Before it can move the desk, Peeta and I run out the door followed by the Doctor.

"Brilliant, well done," says the Doctor. "I never would have thought of that."

"Are you admitting that you were saved by a lowly human?" I ask smugly.

"I would have thought of something clever," the Doctor says. "Eventually."

Before I can say anything else the Cybermen march out of Cuing's office. "You will submit for upgrading," says one in a harsh mechanical voice. "Resistance is futile."

Then we are running. Most of it is a blur, but I do remember crashing into a couple other people, and occasionally a non-human. I don't apologize to any of them before running after Peeta and the Doctor again.

We don't stop until we reach the TARDIS. I note with concern that the doors are thin and made of wood. I don't see how it will stop the Cybermen. "Are you sure they can't get in?" I ask.

"Of course they can't," says the Doctor impatiently. "These doors held off the entire Dalek Empire once, not to mention the combined hoards of Ghengis Khan. I told him I would give him another goat too."

The Doctor bounds up the stairs and pulls a screen towards him. I shut and lock the doors. Spotting my bow and quiver hanging on a peg next to the door, I take them down, slinging the quiver over my shoulder and loading an arrow in my bow. Not that a simple bow and arrow will do much against men made of steel, but it's comforting to have them.

"This is the official map of Satellite Seven," The Doctor says. Peeta and I join him at the control console. The screen shows a map. It's fairly simple. Just a circle with spokes that spread out to a larger circle.

The Doctor presses a couple buttons and a graph appears next to it. "This shows the power generated by the station's Arc Reactor and how much of it is used. If what Cuing said about Satellite Seven being the control center is true, it means that Satellite Seven is where the Cybermen are controlled from. If I can find the sub-space frequencies . . ."

At this point I stop paying attention to most of what he says. It's complicated and none of it means anything to me. Peeta just shrugs when I give him an inquiring look.

What look like squiggles appear on the screen and wiggle like worms. "There you are," says the Doctor. He starts flipping switches and finally pulls the large lever. The TARDIS grinds to life, but this trip is much smoother and shorter than the others I've taken.

When the TARDIS lands the Doctor bounds down the stairs and waits at the door. When Peeta and I join him he turns to us. "Be very careful," he says. "Whatever you do, don't let the Cybermen touch you."

"And I was going to give all of them a big hug," I comment dryly.

The Doctor grins and steps out the doors. Peeta and I are right behind him as we step into the unknown yet again.


	5. All in the Mind

Six Cybermen are surrounding the TARDIS when we step out. I bring up my loaded bow and alternate my aim between them. Not that it will be any use against them, but it does give me a sense of control over the situation.

One of the Cybermen steps forward and speaks in its harsh, mechanical voice. "You will not resist," it says. "The humans will submit to upgrading and the Doctor will be deleted."

"Here's the problem with you lot," says the Doctor swaggering up to the one that spoke. "You just assume that I'm going to give up and that no one can challenge you."

He knocks on the Cyberman's head which produces a hollow ringing. "See?" he says turning to us. "Nothing but flashing lights and steel." He turns back to the Cyberman. "I'm going to give you a choice like I always do. You can deactivate voluntarily, or I'll deactivate you."

"We will not deactivate," says the Cyberman.

"Then I'll do it for you," the Doctor says. "Don't let them touch you," he says to us. Then he dashes past the Cybermen.

Before they can react, I force myself into a run and slip between two of them. They reach for me too late. While their attention is on me, Peeta runs between them. We dash after the Doctor with the Cybermen close behind, their mechanical feet clanging loudly on the ground with each step.

We race through the empty hallways until we reach a large circular room. I skid to a stop at the edge of the platform that rings the edge of the room. I don't manage to stop in time and hit the railing.

I grunt as I bounce off the railing and collapse to the floor. My quiver digs into my shoulder, and as much as it hurts, I'm going to have some very nasty bruises in the morning. Then Peeta is at my side, helping me to my feet.

As I struggle to my feet, I take in my surroundings. There is a platform that rings the edge of the room. At the center, with only one catwalk leading to it, is a tall black cylinder with thousands of lights flashing in various colors.

"What is it?" I ask, massaging my stomach where it hit the railing.

"Transmitter," the Doctor answers as he shuts the doors behind us. "Cybermen all have an emotional inhibitor installed and they're all connected to this system. If we can overload the system with emotion, it will create a surge that will destroy all the Cybermen."

The Doctor runs a hand through his hair, pulling at it on top. "But that may also cause the Arc Reactor to breach," he says looking grim.

"What will that do?" Peeta asks.

The Doctor spreads out his hands and makes an exploding sound. "Satellite Seven will be destroyed," he says as takes out his sonic screwdriver and tosses it to Peeta. "Fortunately, the emergency systems are down here too. Go up the ladder then the door on the left. Point the sonic at the computer and think 'Emergency Teleport'. The teleport will activate and transport everyone off station except us and the Cybermen."

"I can go with you," I say.

"I need you to help me," says the Doctor. "The transmitter is designed for human brains and I'm not human."

His response takes me by surprise. I had already forgotten that the Doctor isn't human. I silently promise not to forget it again. Because forgetting the Doctor isn't human could be a deadly mistake for both me and Peeta.

"Take care of her," says Peeta.

"Take care of yourself," I counter.

Peeta scrambles up the ladder, his artificial leg clanging loudly against the metal rungs. The Doctor turns and I follow him across the catwalk to the transmitter. He opens a panel on the side. He pulls out what looks like a helmet and turns to me.

"This will put you in control of the transmitter," he says. "You have to think of everything that brings out a strong emotional response. The transmitter will send those emotions to all the Cybermen which will overload the emotional inhibitors and destroy them. Ready?"

I nod and the Doctor puts the helmet on my head. I feel an electric shock and my mind fills with the voices of Cybermen. They're harsh and mechanical and all sound the same.

_Cybership one-two-one-nine-one is in position over Barcelona._

_Cybership four-four-one-seven is moving into position._

_Alert, unknown entity is at the transmitter. Initiate conversion to prevent emotional overload._

I feel a sensation like something is attacking my brain. Instead of fear, I feel an emptiness start to fill my mind. I try fighting it, but it quickly suppresses me. I should be afraid, but instead I feel hollow, like a dark empty room.

Suddenly, I feel something else brushing against my mind. It's a strange sensation like I've been locked away in a cage and suddenly something removed the covering and opened the door.

The thing that looms outside is massive and ancient. It looks like a massive sphere with shifting colors. I focus on it and see images of places and people that shift rapidly. I focus on moving towards a red patch. There is a sensation of lurching, and suddenly I am standing in a field of red grass.

I look to my right and see a city more magnificent than any I've ever seen, enclosed in a giant glass bubble. Its grandeur makes the Capitol look like it's made out of mud and sticks. I would gasp in awe, but wherever I am I can't breathe. Though I don't seem to need air.

_Where am I? _I think

_Gallifrey. _Answers the Doctor.

Then there's an old man standing next to me. He strokes his chin contemplatively as the stares at the city in the glass bubble. Though I've never seen him before, I know he's the Doctor, though I don't understand how or why I know that.

As I watch, he changes to a different man. This one wears a tuxedo. _This was my home. _The words come without him moving his mouth. As if the words are coming from my mind._ But it was destroyed during the Last Great Time War. _

The city flickers and suddenly it is burning. Large discs hover over it, throwing blue bolts down on it. Green bolts fly from somewhere in the city. When they strike the discs, there is an explosion and the struck disk falls from the sky.

I would watch the spectacle, but it goes dark as if someone turned out the lights. Only the Doctor, now an older man wearing an orange jacket with an incredibly large bowtie, is visible. _We need to focus on stopping the Cybermen. _He changes again to a man with a mess of brown hair and an unnecessarily long scarf.

_Why do you keep changing? _Now he has blond hair and wears a tan jacket with orange trimming which has a piece of celery on the left side.

_These are all my regenerations. Every person you see is someone I was once. _He has curly hair now and a multicolor suit that's almost painful to look at. _Focus on the Cybermen._

I have a sensation of being pushed until I see the large ball with shifting colors again. _You need to focus on every memory that brings out strong emotions in you. _

Immediately I find myself back in District Twelve. I see a younger version of myself, my sister Prim, and my mother standing in a crowd outside the entrance of the mine where my father died. The snow falls quietly, leaving a pure coat on the ground. It stands in stark contrast to the black smoke belching from the mine entrance.

Now a man with a white hat and a cane is standing next to me. _This is the day my father died. _I explain. I feel the sadness coming, but I try to suppress it.

_Let the emotions flow,_ says the Doctor. This one has shoulder length hair and a darker suit_. It's the only way to stop the Cybermen. _

Slowly, I let the emotions overcome me. The grief of that day builds up inside of me.

_Fantastic _says the Doctor. This one has hair is so short it almost isn't there. He is wearing a black leather jacket. _Now to the next memory._

The vision of that terrible day wavers like a reflection on water when disturbed. Gradually it clears until I see myself huddled under a tree. As the rain falls, I can feel it splattering against my exposed skin. I feel the desperation again, the fear of starving, of losing Prim.

I can hear the baker's wife screaming. Then Peeta is there, tossing the bread to me. I see myself staring at it, unsure of what just happened. Then I watch as I grab the bread and tuck it under my shirt. I feel the relief and add it to the fear and desperation.

_Warning, emotions are overwhelming the system. Begin control transfer._

_Faster! _The Doctor insists. _We don't have much time. _Now he is wearing a striped suit and a trench coat. His hair at the front is fluffed up.

Instead of focusing on one memory, I start thinking about several. The day of the reaping where I felt the desperation and feared losing Prim.

The building up to my first Hunger Games. The fear and anticipation. In the Arena, running for my life. Watching Rue die, unable to save her. Being in the cave with Peeta and my conflicting emotions about him. The fear of being chased by the mutts. The relief of winning.

Being afraid of Snow killing my family. My feelings towards Gale. Learning that I would be forced to marry Peeta to protect my family. Learning that I would go back into the Games for the Quarter Quell. Memory after memory crashes over me like waves, each charged with emotions.

I am feeling overwhelmed now. All the fear and anger are building up within me. I try to stop it, but it is becoming something that is beyond my control, but I still struggle against it.

_Don't. _Says the Doctor. This time, he is the Doctor I know. _You have to trust me. You have to let your emotions flow._

I let go and now the memories and emotions assault me even faster. Watching Cinna being beaten and dragged away. Entering the Arena again, seeing Peeta die and being brought back. Realizing he hasn't been saved too.

Seeing him as the hijacked version of himself that hates me, is programmed to kill me. The suffering of the people in District 8's makeshift hospital and watching it get bombed. The assault on the Capitol and the deaths of my squadmates. Watching my sister Prim becoming a human torch as the rebel bombs explode next to her.

_Warning, we are unable to transfer control. Overload! Overload! _

_Finish them off! _Says the Doctor. _Hit them with everything you have!_

The fall of the Capitol. And the moment when I knew I loved Peeta. Our wedding and toasting.

I let myself linger on that moment. The wedding was the New Capitol's idea to boost morale. It was a lavish affair hosted on the steps of the new Justice Building in District 12. The entire event had been broadcasted across all of Panem during the period of rebuilding. The Capitol had thought it would help boost morale and give people hope.

But it was the private toasting, the marriage tradition of District 12 that I remember most fondly. We had decided to move into Peeta's house in the Victor's Village, mine being empty and too full of sadness. It was there in his, or rather our, kitchen that we had toasted our first bread together.

I stand in the corner of the kitchen, watching a younger version of myself and Peeta. Next to me, the Doctor stands, looking amused.

_Humans. _He says. _I've spent almost a thousand years around you lot and you never fail to show me something new. _He nods to the memory me and Peeta who are pulling the bread out of the fire. _Love and happiness. The two most powerful emotions in the Universe._

_What now? _I ask. I'm starting to feel tired after being assaulted by so many emotions.

The Doctor frowns as he looks around. _It didn't seem to be enough. _He says. _The Cybermen are getting smarter. _He looks at me. _I have to add my emotions. I'm sorry, but you'll have to channel all of them._

_Will it stop them? _I ask. The Doctor just nods. _Then do it._ I say.

Instead of flashes of a single memory, I start to see several. The streak by me in blurs, so I only catch a few images here and there. A glint of golden hair, a thing that looks like a giant squid looming over small green men, a snippet of conversation.

As more and more of them appear, they go faster and faster. Then I become aware of a song, though song isn't the right word. It's more of a wordless melody thrumming in the background. As the images go faster, the song becomes louder and louder until there is nothing in the Universe but the streaks of memories and this nameless song.

It's ancient and glorious. But beneath it is darkness and sadness so profound I am moved to tears. It is a sadness that sings of loneliness and loss of everything once held dear. I feel that I am on top of a sunlit mountain and being crushed in dark unfathomable depths at the same time.

The emotions roll around me like a wave so vast and powerful that whatever emotions I felt seem small and insignificant. I am an ant beneath the mountain. I am seeing the Doctor for everything he is. He is at once both wonderful and terrifying to behold.

The wave builds and builds until it is impossibly large. Then it crashes over me, drowning me in memories that are not my own. I don't know how long I am submerged, only that it is long enough that I lose track of whether I am Katniss or the Doctor, human or Time Lord. Or perhaps I am both.

But finally the wave passes leaving only my memories. Then the Doctor is next to me again. But unlike before, I see him for what he really is.

He is terrifying, an unstoppable storm of rage and destruction. But he is wonderful too, a being of wisdom and kindness.

And it is the kindness that makes me trust him. Kind people have a way of getting inside me and rooting themselves there. Having seen him for all that he is, I know that the Doctor is a friend.

_It's time to go, _the Doctor says. _The system is overloaded and we need to get out before it's too late._

The Doctor disappears and I feel his looming presence leave. I feel trapped again, like the cage door was closed and a curtain was thrown over it. There is silence until I hear explosions and a mind piercing, fear inducing alarm.


	6. Going After Cuing

I open my eyes and I'm back in the transmitter room. Peeta is next to me, his hand outstretched to help me up from the floor. I reach out and grasp his hand. He pulls me to my unsteady feet. It takes me a moment to reorient myself, and I look around the room again.

The Doctor opens the door and the Cybermen are there, but they're on the ground writhing. They all emit a screeching sound like a speaker overloading. We run past them and don't stop until we get to the TARDIS.

There are several Cybermen standing outside it, clearly in pain. One of them explodes, followed soon after by another and another. The Doctor opens the doors of the TARDIS and runs inside. I follow him. Behind me, Peeta shuts the doors.

The Doctor dashes around the control panel. "One more thing to do," he says. "Cuing is responsible for this. Let's go find him and say hello." He pulls the largest lever on the console. The TARDIS groans to life. Once again, it's a short trip.

The instant the TARDIS lands, the Doctor storms out the doors. Peeta and I follow. We step out into what looks like a conference room. But it is empty of everyone except the three of us and Cuing.

Cuing sits in a chair at the head of the table that dominates the room. He is leaned back in his chair with his feet propped up on the table. We approach him as I would a wounded, yet dangerous, animal.

Cuing grins as we get closer. "I was hoping you would come back for me Doctor," he says. "And you even brought your pets."

"It's over," says the Doctor.

Cuing shrugs. "Pity," he says. "I spent a lot of time putting it together." He pulls out a gun and points it at Peeta. I raise my loaded bow, aiming for Cuing's heart.

"It seems your companions have a bite Doctor," says Cuing as he grins. "How unfortunate that I have to kill them."

I shoot the arrow. Impossibly, Cuing grabs my arrow in mid-flight before it can pierce his heart. He giggles manically. Before I can react, he tosses the arrow aside, leaps across the table in a single bound, then wraps an arm around my throat, and crushes me against his chest.

I struggle, but to no avail. Then his gun is placed against my head. Peeta steps towards me, a hand outstretched as if to pull me away.

"Ah ah ah," says Cuing. "Come one step closer and I kill the girl." If he keeps his grip on me, I'm going to die soon anyway. I can't breathe no matter how hard I try or how much I adjust myself. For a second I flash to the end of my first Games when Cato held Peeta in a similar lock. Of course, Cato couldn't pluck arrows out of midair.

"Please," begs Peeta. I can see the frustration in his eyes at his inability to do anything. Cuing just giggles manically again. As his chest rises and falls in short bursts, I manage to reposition myself slightly so I can breathe a little though it isn't enough for me to stay conscious for long.

"What do you want?" the Doctor asks.

"You've cost me so much Doctor," Cuing hisses. "There's nothing you could give me that would repay what you owe me. But I'm a forgiving person, so I'll let you decide which of your companions gets to die first. Will it be the girl?" He points his gun at Peeta and inadvertently loosens his grip on me. "Or the boy?"

I throw my elbow into Cuing's stomach with all the strength I can muster. He grunts and I break out of his grip. As I pass the hand holding the gun, I grab it and rip the gun from his control.

I step back, pointing the gun at his chest. If he even sneezes, I'll shoot him. Instead of fear or anger, Cuing giggles again. I'm starting to think he may not be right in the head. His giggling turns into uncontrolled maniacal laughter.

"Well done," he says clapping as his laughing subsides. "Well done indeed Girl on Fire."

_How does he know me? _I wonder. We're so far in the future and so far from home that I don't expect anyone here to know me.

"Who are you?" the Doctor demands.

"The Beloved Ken Cuing," he answers as he pulls a small black egg-shaped device out from his coat pocket. Grinning, he chucks it over his shoulder. It hits the TARDIS, but instead of bouncing off, it passes through the walls.

Blue rings of light appear from nowhere and surround Cuing. He waves jovially at us as more and more of them appear until there is only a glowing blue outline. There is a flash of light and Cuing is gone. I blink stupidly for a moment trying to figure out where he went.

There is a sound like a gong ringing. I don't know where it comes from, but the Doctor reacts. "No, no, no, no, no!" he shouts as he runs into the TARDIS. "The engines are phasing!" he says from inside. "We need to go now!"

"What about Cuing?" I ask.

"Teleport!" says the Doctor. "He's gone!"

Peeta and I both get back in the TARDIS. It looks like it was hit by an explosion. The control panel belches smoke. Some of the pipes and wires below have torn loose. The wires spark violently and the pipes release a white steam-like substance.

"What happened?" I ask taking in the damage.

"Temporal grenade," says the Doctor as he presses switches and buttons on what's left of the control console. "They were one of the few weapons that could destroy a TARDIS. But it shouldn't be here. The last of the anti-TARDIS weapons were destroyed."

"Obviously," I say dryly.

The gonging sound grows louder and faster. "What is that?" Peeta asks.

"Cloister Bells," says the Doctor as he starts pressing buttons and switches faster than before. "It means the TARDIS will die unless I can get us moving. Come on!" He pounds his fist against the control console.

The screen above him explodes, showering the Doctor with sparks and broken glass. He stumbles and hits the large lever. The TARDIS starts up, but the control console explodes. The explosion throws the Doctor to the floor.

The TARDIS shakes so violently that I can't stay on my feet. Unlike previous times, it is so violent that I quickly become nauseous and throw up.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Peeta yells. He has thrown one arm over me and the other is gripping the ground tightly.

As if in response, another part of the control console explodes as do some of the lights on the side. More pipes and wires below the console are torn loose. A white gas fills the room and I can see the sparks from exposed wires. Several fires have broken out and flames sporadically shoot out in huge columns from the grates in the floor.

"Hold on!" shouts the Doctor. "We're crashing!"


End file.
